Twitter losing its most active users, report says

Billionaires

Many of Twitter’s most active users abandoned the platform in recent years and have shown no sign of coming back, according to company documents obtained by Reuters, sparking serious concerns about Twitter’s future just days before Elon Musk is slated to take control of it.

Photo illustration of Elon Musk | Image source: Muhammed Selim Korkutata / Anadolu Agency

“It seems as though there is a significant discrepancy between what I might imagine are our company values and our growth patterns,” a company researcher reportedly wrote.

The Big Number: 237.8 million. That’s how many total daily active users Twitter reported in the second quarter of this year, up almost 17% from a year prior. Some 41.5 million active users were U.S.-based.

A Delaware judge has given Musk, the world’s richest person, until Friday afternoon to close his $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter and take it private. If the deal doesn’t close by then, a lawsuit from the social media company seeking to force him to follow through with the deal will go to trial. Musk told bankers he plans to abide by the Friday deadline, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The Washington Post reported last week that Twitter is planning massive staffing cuts due to its turbulent financial situation.

The company has a reported goal of slashing US$800 million in payroll by 2023, which would impact critical infrastructure such as data centers, potentially making the platform and its users more susceptible to security threats.

Musk, meanwhile, has reportedly told prospective investors he’s eyeing even deeper cuts: According to the Post, he plans to eliminate about 75% of Twitter’s 7,500-person workforce if the deal closes.

The billionaire also reportedly promised potential investors he will triple the number of users who see ads by the end of his third year as owner, while he’s also floated a subscription service offering users access to premium content for a fee as a way to raise revenue.